Russell Township & Mayor Ken Hill Versus Freedom Of Speech

Howard Galganov

Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms: Freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication.

Please pay special attention to the last five words of the CHARTER statement as it is written:

AND OTHER MEDIA OF COMMUNICATION.

In the zealous quest of the Russell Township Mayor’s effort to FORCE businesses and individuals to post signs ONLY in a bilingual fashion in his Township, he is violating numerous Rights guaranteed in the Canadian Charter, including the RIGHT of EQUALITY that he hasn’t even considered.

I have to suspect that the English-speaking Mayor Ken Hill is attempting to FORCE his will upon the Township for personal reasons of gain, since I cannot imagine any other reason for him to be doing it.

It is obvious to me from being at several Council Meetings that he has very little support amongst the French speaking residents, with the exception of a handful of French language zealots who are too stupid to understand that a FORCED bilingual sign bylaw hurts them more than it does their English neighbors.

Mayor Ken Hill hoped to get the support of the Russell Chamber of Commerce, when in a very public forum, he turned to its executive (French and English) for approbation. It didn’t work.

Hill’s ploy turned out to be a disaster for his ‘cause’, since the Chamber of Commerce executive (Corey Butler, President and Marc Bourque, Vice President) came back with an opinion that FORCED bilingual signs were unnecessary, divisive and unwanted.

But not to be deterred by common sense and very little support, Mayor Ken Hill soldiers-on in his personal mission to FORCE his will upon the people.

As I am writing this, 6000 fliers with a very bold four color message that reads: BOYCOTT French Owned Stores – WHAT CHOICE DO WE HAVE? is en-route to every household in the Russell Township.

The first two lines on the backside of the BOYCOTT flier reads:

A BOYCOTT OF FRENCH OWNED BUSINESSES WILL BE A TRAGEDY FOR ALL CONCERNED.

Ken Hill is doing irreparable damage to the very fabric of the Township he has undertaken to run as its Mayor.

It appears that Ken Hill wants to be far more than just the person who overseas the people who make certain the roads are in good shape. The water and sewage systems work. Garbage and recycling are collected on time. And that the basic infrastructure of the Township works as it should, all of which at the lowest cost possible.

In the case of Ken Hill, I have a very special interest in stopping him from creating a mess before it has to be cleaned up.

My wife and I left Quebec, and moved to Ontario to get away from FORCED social engineering that took away our fundamental Charter Rights and bankrupted the province of our birth.

But here we are nonetheless, away from the Nation of Quebec, facing the same idiocy foisted upon our “new” province by a different type of idiot.

I WON’T LET THAT HAPPEN - NEITHER SHOULD YOU!

The BOYCOTT fliers have cost thousands of dollars. The lawyers I have employed thousands more. But beating a demagogue who wants to take my RIGHTS away make it all worth it. AND MORE!

If Ken Hill wants to pursue his course of FORCED bilingualism he should understand this:

I NEVER back down. I have NEVER lost a language challenge in Quebec against a Province and a willing federal government. And I have already financed and successfully supported a case all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada, which defeated Quebec’s referendum law.

If Ken Hill is willing to spend as much as a quarter of a MILLION tax dollars to restrict Freedom Of Speech in Ontario, he will pass his bylaw, and I will be there to personally serve the Legal Notice Of Intent.

The meeting to have the third and final reading to vote on this obscenity is Monday June 16 (2008) at 7 pm at the Embrun Community Center.

You might want to be there and show YOUR support for YOUR Right to Freedom of Speech whether you live in the Township or not.

The Russell Township Web Site is: www.russell.ca

If you want to help make history and have a hand in defeating this attack on our collective Right to Freedom of Speech, you can help with your financial support. To learn more, please click on the red link under my signature.